Linwood man returns to District Court after convictions overturned

A Leavenworth County man was back in court Wednesday after the Kansas Supreme Court overturned his 2010 conviction for allegedly sexually molesting a child.

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By John Richmeierjrichmeier@leavenworthtimes.com

The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS

By John Richmeierjrichmeier@leavenworthtimes.com

Posted Jul. 3, 2014 at 8:00 AM

By John Richmeierjrichmeier@leavenworthtimes.com
Posted Jul. 3, 2014 at 8:00 AM

A Leavenworth County man was back in court Wednesday after the Kansas Supreme Court overturned his 2010 conviction for allegedly sexually molesting a child.

Chris King, 38, of Linwood, was convicted of two counts of rape, one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of aggravated criminal sodomy.

The crimes are alleged to have occurred in 2007 and 2008 in Linwood.

King was sentenced to life in prison, but was released on $400,000 bond while his case was being appealed. He remains free on bond.

The conviction was reversed in May by the state's highest court, and the matter was remanded to Leavenworth County District Court for a possible retrying of the case.

King appeared Wednesday in District Court for what was scheduled as a pretrial conference.

District Judge Gunnar Sundby said he scheduled the conference to find out where the case stood.

Defense attorney Debra Snider said she will need time to look into the case.

"This is going to take significant investigation on my part," she said.

Snider noted she is new to the case.

King was represented by defense attorney Scott Toth during his 2010 trial.

Snider was assigned to the case after King requested a court-appointed attorney following the Kansas Supreme Court decision.

Snider asked the judge to schedule a status hearing in about 30 days.

Sundby scheduled the hearing for Aug. 8.

The Kansas Supreme Court overturned King's conviction in a unanimous decision released May 16.

The state's highest court reversed the conviction because the prosecution presented evidence of more than 20 incidents in three locations. The prosecution argued King had 11 opportunities to be alone with the victim.

The Supreme Court found the prosecution failed to identify which of the multiple acts jurors should have relied on for convictions of each of the four charges. The District Court judge also failed to instruct jurors they had to unanimously agree on the underlying acts for each count, according to the Supreme Court.